User:Wl219/Community benefits agreement

Community benefits agreements (abbr. CBA) are legally binding contracts between a property developer and a municipality or coalition of non-profit groups. A typical CBA will stipulate certain obligations of the developer for the benefit of the community in which the property is located, in exchange for regulatory support in matters such as zoning. CBAs are seen as a compromise in community development between the interests of commercial property owners and the interests of environmental and affordable housing advocates.

Rationale
In many privately driven urban renewal schemes, a developer will buy a large parcel of vacant or blighted land, intending to transform the area into luxury housing, office towers, retail space, or other income-generating use. The developer may also work with municipal authorities to obtain property within the area slated for development through eminent domain. Community groups have vocally opposed such schemes because the result is often gentrification, resulting in the loss of affordable low- or middle-income housing, independent small businesses, and open space. Advocates argue that though an area may seem blighted, there is nevertheless a vibrant community living there, and that the "character" of the community (which may have been the reason why it was of interest to developers in the first place) would be destroyed by large-scale re-development. With a CBA, a developer commits itself to certain concessions to ameliorate these issues such as guaranteeing public access to a certain acreage of park space, building an affordable housing unit for every certain number of luxury housing units, setting aside space for new schools, paying cash compensation to displaced residents and businesses, or offering reduced rents to displaced businesses that return once construction is complete.

Implementation
The first CBA, in 2001, was the one signed between the developers of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and a coalition of community groups. Since then, the use of CBAs has spread to other cities like Albany, New York and Brooklyn.

Temp. link dump: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/27/40/27_40nets4.html http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/28/26/28_26nets5.html http://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2005/09/mta_board_appro.html http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2006/01/30/daily4.html http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40C1FF93F540C748DDDAB0994DC404482 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/nyregion/15arena.html http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B16F63D590C748CDDAE0894DD404482